Scripture John 9
Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain
of what we do not see. Heb 11:1
Blind = the inability to see.
Faith = described by what it does or what we
do with it:
Eph 2:8-9 We are saved by faith.
Rom. 1:17 We live by
faith.
Rom. 4:13 We receive
righteousness by faith.
Rom. 5:1 We are
justified in Christ by faith
Rom. 5:2 We have
access to God's grace by faith.
2 Cor. 1:24 We stand firm in our belief by faith.
Gal. 3:14 We receive
the promise of the Spirit by faith.
1 Tim. 1:4 We do God's work by faith.
Gal. 5:5 We wait
for the return of Christ by faith.
Two stories that describe the
difference between blind faith and Hebrews 11 faith
A Story About
Faith – The Blind Kind
Imagine you really wanted a new iPad. And what if you
just wished as hard as you could that a brand new iPad would magically appear
at your doorstep? Say one day, you came home fully expecting to use your new
iPad. So much so that you even stopped off at Best Buy to pick up a cool case
for it. That whole set-up would be kind of like the idea of a “blind faith”;
leaping into the dark, right? Blind
faith is just like blowing out your birthday candles and making a wish. Or,
chucking a coin into a wishing well. You’ve got nothing. That’s pretty much the
pop culture take on faith.
Another Story
About Faith – The Evidence Kind
But now…on the other hand, imagine you went online
and bought yourself an iPad! Later, you got a confirmation e-mail saying “thank
you for your purchase.” Eventually, you get an e-mail from UPS saying a package
is scheduled to be delivered the very next day. The next day, you get an e-mail
saying it’s on the truck to your house. You get the tracking number and track this
thing at work until it’s scanned as delivered. Maybe your spouse is home and
you get a text saying, “Your iPad is here.”
Now as you’re driving home, if you want to pick up a cool case or
something, you’ve got a pretty good idea—a hope that isn’t based on some fairy
tale—that you are going to be using your new iPad around dinner time. And you know this, even though you do
not actually see your new iPad.
That could be called blind faith but a faith back by evidence.
Which of these 2 stories fits better with Heb
11:1? Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do
not see. #1
story NO - #2 story YES
This is the kind of concept we see when we read a story
about faith in the Bible: Evidence, that leads to knowledge, that gives you an
assurance of things you can’t see. So
“blind faith” is like chucking a coin into a fountain. But biblical
faith is more like tracking a package.
2000 years ago, some
Jews were throwing a coin in the wishing well hoping the messiah would come. Some were tracking a package but they were
tracking it with the wrong delivery company: They were looking for a military
leader who would set up his kingdom on earth that people would safely live in.
Instead, God delivered the messiah who would conquer our sin condition so that
God and His kingdom could live in us.
That first kind of faith
is one where people work hard to live in such a way that they somehow build
God’s kingdom - that is a blind faith that will never work. The second kind is where Jesus worked hard -
through shedding his blood on a cross - so he could build his church/kingdom
through us.
One is based on effort
and blindly trying to do what is right.
The other is based on the evidence of what Jesus of Nazareth/Heaven did
and putting our full assurance and hope in his work.
For example, in Jesus' day, the Jewish religious
leaders held strictly to the Old Testament laws against working on the Sabbath.
Jesus, however, healed people on the Sabbath, just as he would any other day.
The Jews were offended by this and reasoned that if Jesus really was the
Messiah, he would not go against these religious laws, which they believed to
be set up by God. Also, they thought if
Jesus was the Messiah, he should think and behave more like them. However,
rather than Jesus condemning the thieves and prostitutes, Jesus hung out with
them. Rather than publicly giving honor to the religious leaders and their
laws, Jesus spoke harshly against their hypocrisy. Worse, Jesus blatantly told
them that he came to give them eternal life, but unless they believed in him,
they would die in their sins. He was the visible evidence of God’s presence
that the law could never provide.
The prophet Micah predicted the Messiah would be born
in Bethlehem. Isaiah foretold his miraculous birth that a virgin would
conceive. The prophet Zechariah foretold his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey
and his betrayal for 30 pieces of silver by one of his followers. Isaiah
described that "The Lord's anointed will preach the good news to the poor,
bind up the brokenhearted..." David foretold the Messiah's hands and feet would
be pierced and the soldiers would cast lots for his clothing. Jesus fulfilled
over 300 OT prophecies about the messiah - even the ones about setting up his
kingdom - just not as the Jewish leaders interpreted it. It is said that it would be impossible for
any one person, trying from birth to even fulfill as many as 8 of those
prophecies. Ours is not a blind faith,
ours is a faith based on evidence.
Jesus came to open our eyes - to remove our spiritual
blindness. The proof that he could do
this is in the healing of those who were physically blind. Jesus came to heal the, but not so they could
see (there were a lot of blind people Jesus did not heal) he healed them so
they and others could see God! Jesus
said to the lame man - “your sins are forgiven”
“Only God can forgive sins!” “Let me open your
eyes and prove - give evidence - that I am God - to the lame man Jesus
said - pick up your mat and walk” He wasn’t
healed just so he could walk, he was healed so he and others could walk into
the presence of God!
John 9
As Jesus went
along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2
His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this
man or his parents, that he was born blind?"
3 "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. 4 As long as it is
day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can
work. 5 While I am in the world, I
am the light of the world."
6 Having said
this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the
man's eyes. 7 "Go," he told him, "wash
in the Pool of Siloam" (this word means Sent). So the man went and
washed, and came home seeing. 8 His
neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, "Isn't this the same man who used to sit and beg?"
9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, "No, he only looks like him." But he himself insisted, "I am the man." 10 "How then were your eyes opened?" they demanded. 11 He replied, "The man they call
Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash.
So I went and washed, and then I could see." 12 "Where is this man?" they
asked him. "I don't know," he
said.
13 They
brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man's eyes
was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the
Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. "He put mud on my eyes," the man replied, "and I washed, and now I see." 16
Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not
from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath." (my church attendance - neighbor in need on the Sabbath -
which is right? 1 Cor 13 - Livin the love) But others asked, "How can a sinner do
such miraculous signs?" So they were divided. 17
Finally they turned again to the blind man, "What
have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened." The man replied, "He is a prophet."
18 The Jews
still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until
they sent for the man's parents. 19
"Is this your
son?" they asked. "Is this the one
you say was born blind? How is it
that now he can see?" 20
His parents
answered, "We know he is our son, and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his
eyes, we don't know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself."
22 His parents said this because
they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who
acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."
24 A second
time they summoned the man who had been blind. "Give
glory to God," they said. "We know
this Jesus is a sinner." 25 He replied, "Whether
he is a sinner or not, I don't know. One thing I do know. I
was blind but now I see!"
26 Then they asked him, "What did he do
to you? How did he open your eyes?" 27
He answered, "I have told
you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you
want to become his disciples, too?" 28
Then they hurled insults at him and said, "You
are this fellow's disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that
God spoke to Moses, (how do
they know that? - blind faith) but as for this fellow, we don't even know
where he comes from." 30
The man answered, "Now that is
remarkable! You don't know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know
that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his
will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes
of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could
do nothing." 34 To this they replied, "You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture
us!" And they threw him out.
35 Jesus heard
that they had thrown him out, and when Jesus found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36
"Who is he, sir? Tell me so that I may believe in him."
37 Jesus said, "You have now seen him;
in fact, he is the one speaking with you." (not
seen with the eyes but with the heart) 38 Then the man said, "Lord, I
believe," and he worshiped him. 39
Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this
world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind."
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, "What? Are we blind too?" 41
Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be
guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains." (Not
about physical sight - spiritual sight)
John 9 is still taking
place at the Feast of tabernacles whose two symbols are water and light. John 8:12
Jesus said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jesus is a healer, certainly of the blind:
Luke 4:16-19 He went to Nazareth, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,
as was his custom. And he stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah
was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The
Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the
poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the
prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to
proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
Matt 11:4-6 Jesus replied, "Go back and report to
John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who
have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news
is preached to the poor.
Mk 10 Blind Bartimaeus in Jericho,
Matt 9 two blind men in Galilee, Mt 12 a blind man, Mk 8 Blind man of
Bethsaida, Matt 21:14 blind man in Jerusalem.
“The blind and the lame came to
him at the temple, and he healed them.”
God did not make this
man blind to show his glory - he sent Jesus to show his glory.
The pool of Siloam was at the south end of the city - it was the
source of the Feast of Tabernacle’s water.
The name Siloam means “sent” the man is sent by Jesus who was sent by
God. The mud and pool did not heal him -
Jesus did!!! By going to the pool, the
man showed his faith, he became evidence that the authorities could not
argue against and that many blind (spiritually blind) people could see and know
that Jesus is truly God!
1 Cor 2:9-16 That
is what is meant by the Scriptures which say that no mere man has ever seen,
heard, or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love
the Lord. But we know about these things because God has sent his Spirit to
tell us, and his Spirit searches out and shows us all of God’s deepest secrets.
No one can really know what anyone else is thinking or what he is really like
except that person himself. And no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own
Spirit. And God has actually given us his Spirit (not the world’s spirit) to
tell us about the wonderful free gifts of grace and blessing that God has given
us. In telling you about these gifts we have even used the very words given to us
by the Holy Spirit, not words that we as men might choose. So we use the Holy
Spirit’s words to explain the Holy Spirit’s facts. But the man who
isn’t a Christian can’t understand and can’t accept these thoughts from God,
which the Holy Spirit teaches us. They sound foolish to him because only those
who have the Holy Spirit within them can understand what the Holy Spirit means.
Others just can’t take it in. But the spiritual man has insight into
everything, and that bothers and baffles the man of the world, who can’t
understand him at all. How could he? For certainly he has never been one to
know the Lord’s thoughts, or to discuss them with him, or to move the hands of
God by prayer. But, strange as it seems, we Christians actually do have within
us a portion of the very thoughts and mind of Christ.
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